Building What's next
In the heart of Nakivale, where the wind carries voices from Congo, Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi, Eritrea, and beyond, a quiet leader was rising—Amina, a 19-year-old Somali refugee. She never called herself a leader. She didn’t wear a badge or sit at the front of meetings. But people listened when she spoke—not because she was loud,…
Leadership didn’t come to me through books or speeches. It came through silence. It came through sitting next to a boy who had lost his entire family, and not knowing what to say. It came through standing between two angry men arguing over food rations and finding the courage to remind them we are not…
I never planned to be a leader. Honestly, I didn’t even think I had that in me. When I arrived in Nakivale Refugee Settlement four years ago, I came with nothing but a torn bag, a broken heart, and questions. Questions about why we had to run. Why peace was so fragile. And how I…